But it is not with reference to the seventh corps alone that Lerida was the proper base of the Spanish army. Let us suppose that the supreme junta had acted for a moment upon a rational system; that the Valencian troops, instead of remaining at Morella, had been directed on Mequinenza and that the duke of Infantado’s force had been carried from Cuença to the same place instead of being routed at Ucles. Thus, in the beginning of February, more than fifty thousand regular troops would have been assembled at Lerida, encircled by the fortresses of Monzon, Balaguer, Mequinenza, Tarragona, and Tortoza. Its lines of operations would have been as numerous as the roads. The Seu d’Urgel, called the granary of Catalonia, would have supplied corn, and the communication with Valencia would have been direct and open. On this central and impregnable position such a force might have held the seventh corps in check, and also raised the siege of Zaragoza; nor could the first corps have followed Infantado’s movements without abandoning the whole of the emperor’s plans against Portugal and Andalusia. [Sidenote: St. Cyr.] 9º.--St. Cyr praises Reding’s project for surrounding the French, and very gravely observes that the _only method_ of defeating it was by taking the offensive himself. Nothing can be juster; but he should have added that it was a _certain method_; and, until we find a great commander acting upon Reding’s principles, this praise can only be taken as an expression of civility towards a brave adversary. St. Cyr’s own movements were very different; he disliked Napoleon personally, but he did not dislike his manner of making war. Buonaparte’s campaign in the Alps against Beaulieu was not an unheeded lesson. There is, however, one proceeding of St. Cyr’s for which there has been no precedent, and which it is unlikely will ever be imitated, namely, the stopping of the fire of the artillery when it was doing infinite execution, that a moral ascendancy over the enemy might be established. It is impossible to imagine a more cutting sarcasm on the courage of the Catalans than this fact; yet, general St. Cyr states that his adversaries were numerous, and fought bravely. Surely he could not have commanded so long without knowing that _there is in all battles a decisive moment, when every weapon, every man, every combination of force that can be brought to bear, is necessary to gain the victory_. 10º.--If general St. Cyr’s own marches and battles did not sufficiently expose the fallacy of his opinions relative to the vigour of the Catalans, lord Collingwood’s correspondence would supply the deficiency. That able and sagacious man, writing at this period says,--